top fuel fact from here at work
 

-One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more
horsepower then the first 8 rows at Daytona

-Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes
1 1/2 gallons of nitro per second, the same rate of
fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but with 4
times the energy volume.

-The supercharger takes more power to drive
than a stock Hemi makes.

-Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed
in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture
is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition.
Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

-Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug.
This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

-At styceometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture
(for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane
measures 7050 degrees F.

-Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular
white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw
burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric
water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

-Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during
a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from
compression-plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down
by cutting of its fuel flow.

-If spark momentarily fails early in the run,
unburned nitro builds up in those cylinders and
then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder
heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in
half.

-Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far
(20 degrees in the big end of the track) that
sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from
front to rear to re-phase the valve timing
somewhere closer to synchronization with the
pistons.

-To exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters
must accelerate at an average of over 4 G's. But
in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch
acceleration is closer to 8 G's.

-Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even
dual parachutes will not stop the car.

-If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP,
each run costs $1000.00 per second.

-Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before
you have read this sentence.

You're right.

There's nothing like the sound of a nitro engine at full song.

Ever see a top fuel rail at idle? Watch the exhaust stacks. You'll see liquid spitting out, it's unburned fuel.
I saw one 'sneeze" shortly after being fired up. It blew the crankshaft right out the bottom. No joke! The block was shattered like a hand grenade went off inside.

this is a cool bunch of facts. :)

Very Interesting that is a dream of mine to run the quarter in a nitro dragster.

More;

The octane rating of Nitro is -1000 Squared

Ignition timing changes throughout the pass starting from NEGATIVE 8 to NEGATIVE 14 degrees.

It takes close to 800hp to turn the blower.

Motor accelerates from 2700rpm idle to 8200rpm in .1 sec

The exhaust valves must open against 9000 PSI.

Makes us realize how "low performance" our motors are.



;)

How about the total number of revolutions a top fuel motor makes between tear downs is about 1600.

-Greg

what??? 1600??? what r u talking about???

Heard if from Dean Skuza, also you can figure it out as roughly:

20 seconds of idle to line up (500 rev), 3 seconds for burnout (400 rev), 5 seconds for run(667 rev), that would total up to 1567 revolutions.

-Greg

Very Cool reading.

Jan

Love it, thanks for sharing!